Some amazing artists on here - everyone's great work has whetted my appetite to do my first horse portrait. I figured I'd start with Lusty, my mare. Here's the reference photo:

And here's a quick mock-up of how I want the picture to turn out:

Note I'm omitting the crib collar I haven't decided what paper I'll use yet and actually haven't fully decided whether to do it in graphite or charcoal. I'm better with graphite and am working on some texturing techniques I stole from Brian Duey (dueysdrawings.com), so that's probably what I'll go with. Try to get started this weekend before I go out of town.

I think it'll turn out really nice. I like how you've cropped it down. That'll make for a nice perspective. Like Misty said, if you're really comfortable with graphite, go for it. But being partial to charcoal myself, do one for fun with that, see how it turns out =)
As for paper...I haven't branched out too much in that aspect. I stick with the typical dry media paper that I get at my local art supply store. I've been tempted to try a paper with more texture but haven't gotten around to it yet. One of these times...
Anyways, hope it turns out successful for you, can't wait to see the result!
By the way...you mentioned this is your first horse portrait. Have you done others? Love to see!

I've got a few portraits, some landscapes, and a few acrylic paintings I tried my hand at. I'll post some later this evening.

I'm sticking to graphite for this one, but I like the idea of doing one in charcoal to see how it turns out, so I may well do that. Nothing fancy paper-wise, I'll just use my portrait stock. Will probably start tonight, but I gotta take my daughter to dinner to cheer her up first - her school field trip got canceled.

No horse here, but the image suggests one must be nearby. This is in charcoal. It looks much lighter due to the cell phone camera

This is also charcoal - but admittedly I drew this one on the light side. I have a tendency to do that:

While I'm on the barn theme, here's an acrylic painting I did last year. This was only like my third painting ever, so I went a little overboard with the detail rather than letting the paint do the work. Still haven't broken that code yet.

Sad story on this one. It was a photo of a Bosnian soldier who had just found his family had been killed in the war. From the book "My War Gone By, I Miss it So" by Anthony Lloyd:

Finally, this is the last portrait I tried to do and the closest I've come to capturing a likeness. For all you "Fringe" fans out there:

I've got some other stuff, but it's a horse art thread so I'll save it

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